Current Events


South Africa

Zuma Rallies S. Africa to Fight AIDS

By Celia W. Dugger

A banner about AIDS in the Newtown district of Johannesburg. The disease has taken a devastating toll on South Africa, reducing the life expectancy.
A banner about AIDS in the Newtown district of Johannesburg. The disease has taken a devastating toll on South Africa, reducing the life expectancy.

JOHANNESBURG — In a culmination of his party’s major shift on AIDS, a disease that has led to plunging life expectancies here, President Jacob Zuma last week definitively rejected his predecessor’s denial of the viral cause of AIDS and of the critical role of antiretroviral drugs in treating it.
Tanzania

Mt. Kilimanjaro Ice Cap Continues Rapid Retreat

By Sindya N. Bhanoo

Mount Kilimanjaro's top, shown in June, has lost 26 percent of its ice since 2000, a study says.
Mount Kilimanjaro's top, shown in June, has lost 26 percent of its ice since 2000, a study says.

The ice atop Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania has continued to retreat rapidly, declining 26 percent since 2000, scientists say in a new report.

Congo


Symbol of Unhealed Congo: Male Rape Victims

By Jeffrey Gettleman
Clockwise from top left, Kazungu Ziwa, Shabani Lufuno, Ngabu Bita and Matata Badoda. All are Congolese men who were recently raped and agreed to be photographed.
Clockwise from top left, Kazungu Ziwa, Shabani Lufuno, Ngabu Bita and Matata Badoda. All are Congolese men who were recently raped and agreed to be photographed.

GOMA, Congo — It was around 11 p.m. when armed men burst into Kazungu Ziwa’s hut, put a machete to his throat and yanked down his pants. Mr. Ziwa is a tiny man, about four feet, six inches tall. He tried to fight back, but said he was quickly beaten down.

Guinea


In a Guinea Seized by Violence, Women Are Prey

By Adam Nossiter

In a cellphone photograph given to The New York Times, soldiers surrounded a woman on the ground on Sept. 28 in Conakry, Guinea. Several images appear to show attacks on women.
In a cellphone photograph given to The New York Times, soldiers surrounded a woman on the ground on Sept. 28 in Conakry, Guinea. Several images appear to show attacks on women.

CONAKRY, Guinea — Cellphone snapshots, ugly and hard to refute, are circulating here and feeding rage: they show that women were the particular targets of the Guinean soldiers who suppressed a political demonstration at a stadium here last week, with victims and witnesses describing rapes, beatings and acts of intentional humiliation.

Uganda


In Rural Africa, a Fertile Market for Mobile Phones

By Sarah Arnquist

LINKED A boy carrying matoke, a bananalike fruit that is a staple in Uganda.
LINKED A boy carrying matoke, a bananalike fruit that is a staple in Uganda.

BUSHENYI, Uganda — Laban Rutagumirwa charges his mobile phone with a car battery because his dirt-floor home deep in the remote, banana-covered hills of western Uganda does not have electricity.
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